East River Road residents, small business owners against truck bypass around City of Norwich

NORWICH – A group of citizens attended a public hearing about the ongoing New York State Rt. 12 Corridor Study Thursday evening, many of them concerned about either losing traffic in front of their small businesses or having more trucks driving past their homes.

State and county transportation department officials were on hand to reveal the long-term solutions identified in a second phase of a study that was initiated by Chenango and its neighboring counties decades ago. The NYSDOT is currently addressing short-term passing and other safety fixes to improve the 84-mile stretch from Binghamton to Utica. Those improvements have been funded and should be made within two to three years, DOT officials say. However, none of them directly address congestion in the downtown Norwich area.

Connectors to interstates 81 and 88 and Route 8, a truck bypass on East River Road around the City of Norwich, 3 lane passing lanes and even a limited access expressway were some of the solutions identified to improve traffic flow and promote economic development in the corridor. Those improvements are still 15 to 25 years away, the officials said.